The Tragic Widow
by Droiture LeReve
Summary: A mysterious woman in funeral attire has been spotted around Halloween Town, frightening the citizens and implanting herself deep in Jack's mind. Will Jack find a way to save her soul before it's too late?


Note: Thanks to my arrogant best friend and his insistence that I get some Kingdom Hearts in my system, a game I so despised for so long due to it's complicated controls (to a hamster, maybe, but then again, I have the attention span of a squirrel), involved levels, and the fact my retarded TV makes the screen much darker than the game should be, I now am re-obsessed with The Nightmare Before Christmas and all it's Halloweeny glory. And, with Halloween coming up and my braces coming off very soon after four years of being called "Train Face", "Metal Mouth", "Bandy Jaws" "Revenge of Jaws" and other equally-hurtful nicknames, I feel like a little something is in store.

So, thanks, Jason. You spawned this horrible fanfiction, and I hope you're friking happy. Jerk.

No, no, I don't hate you, Jay. I couldn't hate you. You're like a squishy huggable Care Bear, only without the high-pitched voice and the insistent pestering happiness. Ok, you've still got the pestering happiness... but anyway.

I don't own Nightmare Before Christmas, only my mysterious character who I will name and give detail to later in the story because I'm devious and evil like that.

**Chapter 1: Rainy Day in Paradise**

So, it seems you've stumbled upon this little tome. Good work. No, really. It seems you've stumbled across this story, perhaps, looking for a fantasy story of goblins and witches and a dashing young hero with a heart of gold. Well, then, my friend, it seems you've come to quite the wrong place. This story was real, and very frightening. Oh, are you leaving already? Oh, alright, you're not missing much. Only a deep tale of souls and death, of love and betrayal, of terror and fear. Oh, I see I've caught your eye again. Fantastic. Shall we begin?

Where do we start? Shall we start from where Jack finds his way--

Oh? You don't know who Jack is? Oh, you do. Well, good. This story doesn't center on Jack, of course. How fun would that be? No, this story focuses on another.

If you've heard of Jack, surely you've heard of Halloween Town? Oh, good, then I don't need to explain myself. Well, anyway, it was a regular Halloween in Halloween Town, and this year, Jack decided to add some thunder and lightning to the mix, creating a dank, humid atmosphere. It was quite effective, if I do say so myself.

Suddenly, as if a force from the skies had sent down its wrath, a stray lightning bolt struck the head of the fountain, spraying acid-green liquid everywhere and electrifying poor Jack, who was hiding inside as part of the festivities. Jack was thrown from the fountain, landing painfully on his side and rolling along the ground until he came to a stop. Smoke swirled upwards from his body and clothes, and he lay there, horrifyingly conscious but unable to move. He opened his eyes and saw a woman standing above him. She didn't appear to be dead, as most of the citizens in Halloween Town. She was instead merely a ghostly shade of white, her eyes covered by a black veil. She was dressed in funeral attire, and carried a black parasol over one shoulder to deflect the rain. She also stared straight ahead, as if she didn't notice the horror that just took place. She walked straight past, or, perhaps it was more like gliding. Sally rushed past to help Jack to his feet. He wobbled in place, using her arm as a hold, then managed to rasp, "Excuse me? Do I know you?"

The woman did not seem to hear him. She continued gliding past the procession, straight ahead into the town hall. Jack followed her, his legs still stiff, and Sally still holding on.

"Excuse me? Miss?"

The woman was gone, as if she simply vanished.

"Jack? Where did she go?"

"Haven't the foggiest, Sally."

As the two turned to leave, the woman appeared again. Now that she was close up, Jack noticed the deathly pallor to her face, and the fact her face seemed to be dripping a mysterious black liquid.

She still didn't seem to notice them, as she glided up to the stage, closed her parasol, and placed it off to the side. She then slid over to a window and looked out sadly, staring silently.

"Miss?" Jack asked, walking up to her. "Miss?"

_The soul that wanders Earth in pain, cannot begin to go insane, instead she waits for her heart to die, in Halloween is where she cries..._

Jack stopped short as something shot through his head.

"Miss, is there something wrong? Can I help you with anything at all?" Jack asked, reaching out to her. She seemed to ignore him, continuing to stare out the window.

_Spirits wait for their passport to everlasting life of sorts, and there within lies seven sins..._

Jack backed away.

"Jack, what is it?"

"I-I can hear her. She's singing, In my head. She's so tormented. She's so dark and pained, even for Halloween Town."

"Can't you help her?"

"I don't know how. She won't say what's wrong."

"Well, what did she say?"

"She said 'The soul that wanders Earth in pain cannot begin to go insane, instead she waits for her heart to die, in Halloween is where she cries. Spirits wait for their passport to everlasting life of sorts, and there within lies seven sins.'" Jack said.

"Oh, my." was all Sally could muster the energy to say.

The woman moved from the window, and picked up her parasol, opening it and placing it back over her shoulder like a Victorian mother shading herself from the sun. She finally looked up, staring Jack straight in the eye-sockets, and dissolved into the air, small glittering violet particles as the only trace of her. Jack fell to his bottom, his eye-sockets wide with shock.

"Jack?"

"Dear God, I just saw the most horrible things. It was like something out of an old horror film. There was blood everywhere, and death, and yet it seemed hardly out-of-place in that horrid place."

"Jack?"

"Sally..."

Jack saw the world around him begin to go black as he fell to his side. He fainted.

_As the lightning illuminates your world, so then may it illuminate your soul, where the stars fade into the darkness here, and it is plain, as anyone can see, that you are not the master of Fear..._

Jack awakened in his bed, with multitudes of concerned faces staring down at him.

"Jack, are you alright?"

"Ugh... my skull... Sally?"

"It's me, Jack!" Sally said in relief, placing a cool cloth on Jack's forehead.

"Jack, Sally dragged you out of the hall passed out! What happened, Jack?"

"Oh, God, Mayor, you have no idea."

Jack sat up in bed and looked around. His head pounded, and he could still see the horrifying images burned into his mind. "Mayor..." he started, "She wasn't from Halloween Town. She was from somewhere else. God only knows how she got here. I'm not even sure _what she was, _to be honest. She looked human, but then again... no human I've ever seen had skin that deathly hue of white." Jack shuddered at the memory.

_As long as I still remain, until the day I'm found again, to you I hold as one so dear, to save me from my undying fear, from death and darkness to Halloween night, I see I gave the ghoul a fright, I lived in squalor so long ago, and now I wander down below, my Hell is your beautiful heaven, and your Hell is where I long to lay in rest..._

"Oh, God!" Jack collapsed down, clutching his skull in terror.

:"Jack!"

"She's doing it again, Sally! She's singing, and it's terrifying! I can't... Ahh!" Jack's eyes were screwed shut tightly as he dug his fingers into his skull, as if splitting his head open would make the voices stop.

_Can you hear me, Pumpkin King? I am the one to wear the ring, the ring of death and blackened coals, to burn my heart like another fool's, please save me from this wretched place, and a story you shall never face..._

"God, it's horrible! Who could live this way?!" Jack cried. Sally held him tightly, tears flowing down her face at Jack's pain. "Every image in my head... it's worse than Death itself! She must have lived in absolute horror every day of her life!"

_My story is of love once lost, of forever's grasp that wrath once wrought, of lust and greed, of gluttony and hate, of pride and envy, of sloth and fate..._

By this time, the Mayor and the other frightened citizens of Halloween Town had fled the mansion, now huddled outside in fear. Only Sally remained by Jack's side, holding him gently.

"Jack... Jack... Please, Jack... Please Jack..."

_Please, Jack..._


End file.
